The WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship completed one more day on its schedule. It can be said that for yet another year, the event proved utter success with its high attendance.

The tournament attracted a field of 1,244 entries who put the guaranteed prize pool of $3 million well in the rear. After registration closed at the end of Level 2 on Day 2, organizers announced that as many as 156 lucky players will split a prize pool of $3,967,000.

Day 2 of the tournament, played on Tuesday at the Borgata Casino in Atlantic City, kicked off with 548 hopefuls from the two starting flights. Two hundred and so more players joined them at the poker tables, taking advantage of the late registration option.

As it happens during WPT Main Tour Main Events, it was an action-packed day. By the time all scheduled levels were completed, the start-of-the-day field was reduced to just 159 contenders. In other words, the remaining field is just three eliminations away from bursting the money bubble.

A.J. Kelsall ended up as the overnight chip leader with a stack of 768,500 in chips. Here it is interesting to note that the player managed to build that stack from a start-of-the-day one worth around 38,000.

More about the Chip Leader

Kelsall boasts live poker bankroll of more than $1 million, cashed over the course of nearly 17 years and from more than 100 live tournaments. The Florida resident entered the Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship fresh from a fifth-place finish in the Lucky Hearts Poker Open WPTDeepStacks $1,100 Main Event, from which he collected $56,239.

As mentioned earlier, Kelsall entered Day 2 of the WPT Borgata event with 38,000 in chips, which he multiplied into the largest stack at the end of the day. The player told WPT staff after play concluded for the day that he managed to win several extremely important hands that brought him 50,000 or 100,000, or even more. In addition, he did not lose any big hands throughout the day, which further helped him cement his position on top of the leaderboard.

Of his poker preferences, Kelsall said that he plays a little bit of everything, but does not think to be excelling in any of the different poker games. He further noted that he has been playing No-Limit Hold’em for quite some time now and that he does not enjoy it as much as he used to before. He named triple draw and razz some of his favorite poker games and noted that he enjoy playing these at the WSOP.

Day 3 action at the Borgata is slated to resume at noon local time. Organizers will fire things up by bringing in the Action Clock. As mentioned above, the money bubble is expected to burst shortly after the beginning of play. Min-cashes start from $6,129. As for the winner, they will cash $651,928 from the event.